THE BIG CANDLE

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, April 1, 1892.

THE BIG CANDLE.

It Burns Out at 2:18 A. M. on March 31st. The Prizes Awarded.

   The great candle that was lighted at precisely noon, March 15, 1892, at Burgess & Bingham's store burned 15 days 14 hours 18 minutes, burning down March 31st at 2:18 A. M.

   The successful guesses were as follows: Mr. Henry Burnham, Cortland, wins 1st prize $12.50 suit, who guessed January 30 that the candle would burn 15 days 18 hours 48 minutes.

   Mr. L. F. Stillman, Cortland, wins 2d prize $7.50 boys suit, who guessed January 26, that it would burn 15 days 15 hours 15 minutes.

   Dr. A. L. Head, Homer, wins 3rd prize $5.00 trunk, who guessed that the candle would last 15 days 15 hours 45 minutes.

   Moses Butterfield, Blodgetts Mills, wins 4th prize $3.00 hat. He guessed February 26, that it would go out in 15 days 12 hours 14 minutes.

   Amos Davenport of East Homer, wins 5th prize $2.00 umbrella. Mr. Davenport guessed February 19, that it would last 15 days 12 hours 10 minutes.

   There were 4496 guesses in all and much interest was manifested in the result.

A Singular Accident.

   Engineer Henry Milligan, of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, met with a painful and singular accident Monday morning. The passenger train from New York was being drawn by two engines, the forward one, with Milligan at the throttle, being a powerful culm-burner [burns waste anthracite coal—CC editor]. The heavy snow had been plowed through successfully till a point between Paris and Richfield Junction was reached, when a drift ten feet or more high was encountered. Milligan drove into it with force, when the front part of the cab was crushed and the engineer was driven to the rear and buried in the snow until he was nearly suffocated. His head was driven through the rear window, the broken glass cutting a bad gash on the back of his head. His feet stuck out of the hole broken in the cab, and he was tightly pinned in on all sides. One leg was pressed against a steam pipe and was severely burned. Until assistance reached him the steam was on his engine, which was pressing ahead, and the snow crowding him back in the cab. When he was extricated he was unconscious. He was taken to his home in Utica, where a physician was called, who found that his left shoulder blade was broken, in addition to the injuries mentioned above. He is reported as improving.—Chenango Union.

A Bit of a Fire.

   About 6 o’clock Sunday morning a lad, who had been after a doctor, discovered fire in an unoccupied house in rear of Mrs. Mary Topping’s residence at 76 Goton Ave. The boy at once pulled alarm box 213 and the fire department responded promptly. The Emeralds threw the first stream, followed by Orris and Water Witch. The building, which had been unoccupied since the Tuesday previous, was so far gone that it could not be saved. Mrs. Topping, who owns the house thinks the fire was of incendiary origin. Insured for $300, which will nearly cover the loss.

Alarm #2.

   A few minutes before 3 o’clock on Tuesday afternoon, box 422, located at the H. M. Whitney Company’s office on Pendleton-st., was pulled and the department, with apparatus, scampered to the scene of the fire in a hurry. The fire proved to be in a barn in rear of the building for some time past used as a milk depot. Emerald Hose Company were on the ground within four minutes from the time the alarm was sounded, but Orris Hose had a stream on the fire first. The fire was quickly drownded [sic] and the loss is fully covered by insurance. The fire is said to have been caused by sparks from the black smith shops of the Whitney Company adjoining. Everything of value was removed from the building before the fire had made much headway.

Jealousy and Laudanum.

   For some time past there has been a difference of opinion existing between Mr. and Mrs. Harlan P. Hollister, who formerly conducted the bakery in the Squires building and who have lately had an establishment of the same sort in the old Wickwire building on Railroad-st. The wife is said to be displeased on account of the attention shown by her liege-lord to the other woman on the case, and last Saturday a big talk between husband and wife took place, and the latter sought and found shelter under the hospitable roof of her husband’s parents.

   She did not return on Monday and as her assistance was needed in the bakery, her husband sought and obtained an interview with her and on making promises for future good behavior on his part, prevailed on her to return home. In the evening he purchased a half ounce of laudanum at F. I. Graham’s drug store and going home told his better half he had swallowed the dose. She at once sent for Dr. Angel who gave the proper emetic. An effort was also made to use a stomach pump but he resisted so stoutly that the attempt was abandoned. The dose was not large enough to have been fatal under any circumstances but he will undoubtedly feel the effect for some time.

A Wicked Assault.

   Last Thursday afternoon Mr. Emeret Clark, employed in the Hitchcock Manufacturing Company’s works, was assaulted and quite severely injured by a fellow workman named Henry Koss. Clark was piling [wheel] spokes in a window at which Koss was standing to transfer them to a dray. The latter did not take them away fast enough and the pile fell on him. Koss said nothing but when the pile fell on him the second time he began throwing spokes at Clark. One of the spokes hit Clark and knocked him senseless. The foreman, Mr. Geo. Schermerhorn, was called and at once sent Clark home in a sleigh, and had Dr. Nash summoned.

   Koss was discharged and the foreman swore out a warrant for his arrest, and the prisoner was taken before Justice Bull Friday afternoon on a charge of assault in the second degree and waived examination, and the Justice held him to appear before the grand jury. He is a Russian Jew, and has been in town about two months.

The Story is Sensational.

   NEW YORK. March 28—Mrs. D. S. Lamont slates that the story published today about her husband's illness is sensational. It is merely a case of nervousness, superinduced by too close application to business, and that far from being confined to his bed, the Colonel will be down town attending lo business as usual in a few days. Colonel Lamont's illness is of a temporary nature and he sees his friends as they call from day to day, and there is no cause for alarm.

Fox Terriers Guard the Elephants.

   The visitors to the Central Park menagerie in New York City often wonder why fox terriers are always to be found in the enclosures with the elephants. It is simply because if they were not there the rats, which are many and large, would eat off the feet of the elephants. The elephants are chained, and when they lie down they can't keep the rascally rodents from gnawing their feet. So a fox terrier is kept in with them whose business it is to see that the rats are kept away, and to kill as many as possible. The elephants appreciate the dog, too. And lately the rats have begun to gnaw holes in the thick hide of the rhinoceros. So a terrier was placed in with this beast, and in one night killed twenty-seven rats. Rats, by the way, are one of the greatest pests which the keepers have to fight—Boston Transcript.

  

A Change for the Better.

   Messrs. Cobb A Perkins, the wholesale confectioners, tobacconists, and dealers in fruit, have leased the handsome stores in the Grand Central Block on Railroad St., of Messrs. Edgcomb & Ballard, and will move their wholesale department to these stores on or about the first of May The candy manufacturing department and the bakery will remain at the present location. The tremendous increase in their wholesale business has made more room necessary and the handsome stores in the Grand Central will, they hope, furnish ample room for their needs.